2007 year in review

wow. it is hard to believe that 2007 is nearly over. here's a small recap of how i saw the year go by...
in january i did my first half-ironman in tasmania. it was bloody hard but the conditions were really great except for when i got to the run. it really takes me way too long to get these things done. if i was faster, i'd be able to avoid the heat! i qualified for ironman australia with the rolldown but decided not to take it as i was obviously under prepared. mark on the otherhand did a stellar performance with a first place finish in his age category (4:22). we then spent some time travelling around tasmania and ended up in coles bay/freycinet area where we got to see miss universe 2004 jennifer hawkins film 'getaway' (a vacation tv show). it was clearly amusing to watch the men in the area, try to take pictures with their mobiles without being obvious. while swimming in coles bay early one morning, we realized the whole place was filled with stingrays - and since we really didn't like them being only three feet below us, we promptly stopped swimming.
in february, hmm.. i just worked, i think. mark must have worked as well, but obviously not as hard as me. :) ming and justin got engaged!
in march, hmm... i still think i worked. mark's riding bunch got cut off by an old man driving his car and he fell hard on his coccyx. we knew it was badly bruised but not sure if fractured slightly. it was a downer on his hard work training for ironman australia, but i think also an eye-opener for him with my situation for ironman canada.
in april, we went to port macquarie for ironman australia. the swim looked like havoc and the bike course looked hilly. i didn't think the atmosphere measured up to ironman canada but nonetheless tried very hard to cheer everyone on the run by name (i have never tried to look up numbers/names so fast in my life!) mark did really well: 10:02 (he just corrected me). but these aussies are super fast and he was not in the running for a spot in hawaii. mark's training buddies also pulled in a stellar performance despite some throw up during the swim and some serious walking in the run (hey, it is definitely OKAY to walk the marathon). as for work, we found out that another competing group had similar data - ACK!
in may, we went to busselton, western australia to compete in the half-ironman with our friends jo, pete and their newly formed oui tri group (i have no idea about the name). i took 30 mins off my time from tasmania but to be honest, the course really suited me. completely FLAT bike course and an ocean swim which was calm and had easy sighting guides.
let's skip june and go to july, mark went to brisbane for a two week course and fell in love with some work done by a swiss guy. who knows what that means for our next destination but i'm quite happy where i am right now. while he was away, i think i ate 3 different versions of lasagna (1. he made to make sure i would eat food; 2. philgoode made when i came over for dinner; 3. lavinia made when i hosted her and ian for dinner). my first half-marathon sub 2h was done at princes park! i was quite excited. i smashed my pb by 4 mins!
in august, after rejection from science (i could be wrong about the timing, it's all such a blur), our laboratory re-submitted with two other labs with similar stories to cell and cancer cell (who knew you could submit for consideration to two at one time?) mark on the otherhand, got his first, first-authored paper from his PhD. He also ramped up to a full marathon race in shepparton and after leading the race from the 28 to 35km zone, he succumbed to the guy in all red who looked far less fashionable than him. second place was very well deserved so we went to tatura for some fine award-winning vanilla slices. 8 slices really amount to a hefty price! but alas, we didn't eat them all, we spread the goodness around. i was quite pleased to have run my second half-marathon in under 2h. this was boding well for the marathon in october.
in september, mark and i celebrated our fourth anniversary at a french restaurant. it was quite yummy and highly recommended. mark also decided to publish yet another first-author paper. we got to see sir ian mckellan in king lear. quite amazing.
in october, i ran the melbourne marathon and while not a personal best, i did finish it with a smile. i also learned i had to start taking this asthma thing seriously as i was constantly fatigued in september. and again, mark decided to publish yet another first-author paper - is this getting boring or what? we visited wei in portland and stuffed our faces and then off to vancouver for 7h, and finally ontario. for mark it was the first time since we moved out to australia and it was so good to be home. next time, we'll try to spend more time in ontario so we can visit everyone! i'll post some pictures another time. we also found out that yin is expecting a baby boy in may.
in november, our laboratory published in cell and i was lucky enough to have been able to contribute to this work! and yes, not to be outdone, mark decided to publish again :) two days after coming back from canada, mark did a mountain bike relay race with abbie, philgoode, andrew and luke - they placed 2nd in the mixed team event!
in december, while canada got snow, we got colder weather then all of a sudden 40 degrees. it is really bloody hot here and honestly, it's a bit hard to think it's christmas. this makes it a bit easier to ease the feeling of missing family and friends at this time of year.

This year has been full of new exciting accomplishments and 2008 is shaping up to be an eventful year again! well, no more time for review, the future is already here! i hope that everyone at home has an amazing holiday season and good luck in 2008. lots of love lynn